Hollywood is the land of affairs, drama, and divorce. Thus, Katherine McPhee’s affair and subsequent divorce shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Yet, we’re angry with this one because we’ve seen how Hollywood has changed McPhee. We remember her from American Idol, the fresh face who offered a change. And we’d like her to keep that image: the girl next door whose dream is to be a star.

But she did become a star. Sort of. She was the runner up in season 5 of American Idol, had a recording career, and was the lead of the highly rated Smash. And did success get to her head? Yes, even though her recording career faltered and Smash was cancelled. It’s always seemed like McPhee should have gone away like other American Idol Contestants who failed to garner success, but she’s still trying to make it in Hollywood.

On October 22nd, TMZ shared picture of the married Katherine McPhee kissing her married Smash director Michael Morris. In McPhee’s defense, she was separated for months from her husband, Nick Cokas, otherwise known as the man who supported her in her efforts to be a star according to McPhee’s official site. He was the one who urged her to try out for American Idol. He was there while her star power rose. But what about Michael? He was married with three small children. Uhmmm, yes that makes McPhee slime.

It’s not uncommon for stars to break up with lovers who had been there from the start for more opportunities or for someone else. Although Smash was a smash, Katherine McPhee wasn’t known as a household name. But it’s fishy that they didn’t care who saw them kiss in the photos, and that she was caught in public when Smash was still on air. Good girls don’t always get publicity. Negative publicity is still publicity. And it can help one’s career. The only way for the good girl, Katherine McPhee, to get publicity and a boost to her career was to shed her image. But it didn’t work. Smash was cancelled and no one cared about Katherine McPhee until she announced her divorce.

No longer was she the girl next door, but instead the adulteress. Kristen Stewart was in a similar predicament with Rupert Sanders, but she was able to throw herself into work, and tried to remedy her relation with then-boyfriend Robert Pattinson. Yet, Stewart isn’t burdened with the squeaky clean image like McPhee is.

When McPhee started her career as “the good girl” for American Idol, she was expected to be a role model to young girls in the same way as Kellie Pickler, Kelly Clarkson, and Carrie Underwood. But the affair shattered her once pristine image. Angelina Jolie was always seen as a rebel by the media, and although she had an affair with Brad Pitt, the media forgave her because she had never had a clean image to uphold.

But what’s Katherine McPhee’s next project? A TV show called Scorpion according to Hollywood Reporter. It won’t bring her the star power that she desperately seeks. And it won’t bring her back as the girl next door. As McPhee’s Twitter profile says, she’s in “LaLa land”